,,Who?” I asked him ,,I appreciate you trying to help but I do not recall having a brother or some other sibling besides Millie.”
Millie agreed with me (obviously).
,,Huh? Luna what are you talking about. Of course you have an older sibling” Misaki frowned and Midari copied him, frowning too (even though she wasn’t angry, she just wanted to match her brother).
,,Misaki that can’t be right. If we had a sibling, we would have remembered.”
,,Who has a sibling?” Edgar entered and pushed Erika a little bit, so he could enter. Now Lord made an angry face.
,,Is it me, or is the entire planet population in this room?” he said.
,,Well, I can go away now, I am a little bit tired. Plus I need to recover from the shock of being threatened by that woman” Saki stood up ,,also, Carter, try teleporting. It might work now.”
,,Oh thank the librarians” Carter finally stood up.
,,Seems like this whole librarian cult thing is growing on you” Midari told her cousin.
,,I think it is. Now I finally have an interesting story to tell Leo. Uhm…assuming he is coming home tonight.”
,,Don’t worry your pretty little head Carter. I’m sure he’s just fine.” Erika reassured him, as if he were her kid.
,,Yeah…no worries…no worries…” Carter looked at the ground with a sad expression ,,Anyway…I’ll try teleporting now. Bye guys! And Midari, visit me sometime.”
Midari waved at him and her cousin smiled, then teleported away. Oh my sweet teleportation what would I do without you?
,,I’m going with Saki and Lord” Mily also stood up, motioning for Saki and Lord to do the same ,,Also, Lord, you might want to stop eating popcorn.”
,,Why?” Lord complained.
,,I’m making you your favorite food so…”
,,OH YES YES YES!” Lord jumped off the couch and followed Mily and Saki.
,,I’m not going anywhere” Erika took a seat on the couch closest to me ,,I want to hear about Millie and Luna’s brother. Sounds like some juicy gossip.”
,,I told you, we do not have a brother or any other sibling!” Millie argued.
,,Sibling or no sibling, this is interesting” Erika commented.
What Misaki said couldn’t have possibly been true. Millie and I were the only children mom had. Unless we both had memory gaps.
Misaki looked confused but also sure of himself. He thought about the situation for a moment, before signaling Edgar to also take a seat. My companion seemed to be very interested in this.
,,One year ago, I met this guy. I was surprised that he could see ghosts…” Misaki started telling the story ,,He looked a bit disoriented and asked me for money…”
,,I’m assuming this guy is the boy you think is our long lost brother. If he were our brother, he would have had money. Our family isn’t exactly poor.”
,,Yeah Millie I know, Midari told me. But I’m not lying. So, after he asked me that, I told him that I was dead and didn’t need money. He was upset for a moment and then we started chatting. I told him I had a little sister and-“
,,WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM ABOUT ME?” Midari wanted to know. Misaki seemed annoyed with her interruption but still smiled.
,,That you’re a very smart kid.”
,,I’m not a kid, but thank you” Midari did another happy dance. She was in her “I’m-doing-a-little-happy-dance-when-I’m-excited” phase.
,,And after I told him about you he said that he had two little sisters and that he hadn’t seen them in years.”
,,As much as I adore your story” Millie wanted to get straight to the point ,,when will you finally tell us his name? Maybe it’ll help us remember.”
,,Oh. Yeah, right…his name is Elliott. With double “L” and double “T”, just wanted to let you know, because I misspelled his name.”
I noticed that Edgar’s eyes widened when he heard the name.. He looked at Erika, who had the same expression.
,,In any case, he told me that Millie and Luna are his sisters and then I told him that they’re dead.”
,,I still haven’t gotten used to being introduced as dead” I commented this time.
,,And he said that being dead is better than being alive and living with your parents.”
,,True” Millie agreed. She probably remembered our parents more than I did, because my memory gaps were a lot larger than hers, so Millie probably knew stuff I didn’t.
,,So is he really your brother, Luna?” Edgar cautiously asked.
,,Err…I don’t know. I gotta see him first.”
,,I’m afraid I don’t have any pictures of him” Misaki responded ,,But I know where he lives! And because the curse was broken, Millie and you, Luna, can visit him and see for yourselves if he’s lying. Thought I don’t think that’s the case, because he really resembles you. He’s got the same greenish-blueish eyes and the same haircolor. I do believe what he’s saying is true.”
Edgar mumbled something and then said the following out loud:
,,So where does he live then?”
,,At the others’ house.”
,,Oh no” Erika blurted out.
I did not understand a thing Misaki had said and decided to keep quiet.
,,Well” Midari concluded in a dramatic tone ,,That is very tragic indeed.”
,,I didn’t understand a thing you said” Millie declared as if reading my mind. Sometimes I think we actually have that connection people say twins have.
,,I think you shouldn’t go after this brother of yours” Erika said in a warning tone, as if she’d have Mily turn us into flowers if we even left the school.
,,But why?” Millie really wanted to know. She’s always been really curious about everything.
,,I should let Lord explain. He’s the one who got us in trouble with the others after all” Erika stood up ,,Just don’t do anything you might regret later on” she said then left the room.
,,Yeah she’s probably right” Midari agreed with her.
,,But what if Misaki calls him and tells him we want to meet in private? I don’t know who the others are, but this problem does not concern them. So, what do you say, Misaki?” Millie proposed.
,,I tried meeting up with him more than once since we met but he declined every time, saying that he’s busy. Plus he isn’t answering at the moment, so I doubt he wants to meet up.”
,,Shoot…Well..Any other ideas? “
,,Now that Erika is gone I can finally speak” Midari let out a sigh ,,The people she’s talking about, so, the others, are a group of people that Lord angered one day…”
We stared at her. Of course Lord would have angered people.
In my opinion, Lord was an annoying kid. He’s young, so what? So am I! My best guess was that Mily didn’t call him to help us fight, because he was just a child and she was trying to protect him. Even so, he was strong! We could have won if Lord was there! Who cared that Lord was young? He’s whiny and he cries a lot, so he could have at least helped us!
On the other hand I felt bad for him. His sister manipulated him. He died at a young age. He didn’t have any friends. Everyone laughed at him, including me.
The conclusion: I really hated Lord. But I also felt bad for him.
,,Basically this group came to visit us, hoping that we could offer group member a place to stay, since she was a ghost, like us. But Mily refused. It would have ended there, if Lord didn’t start to mock the group’s boss, thus resulting in angering the whole team. I can’t blame the kid, Lord was younger then and had zero self control. But then their boss got angry and started fighting us. Mily chanted her spells and the problem was quickly resolved, though it resulted in some sort of rivalry between our family and theirs.”
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,,Midari, we’re not a family” Millie corrected her.
,,Sure we are! Mily’s the mom, Saki’s the dad. Erika is the grandma, I’m the cool aunt…Wendy and Kevin are the nephews, you and Luna are…the cousins. And Lord is the kid.”
,,What am I then?”
,,You…Edgar you’re the other grandpa with a deceased wife.”
Edgar frowned at her comment.
,,Leave her out of this.”
,,Oh Edgar by the way, is your wife’s name Betty?” I asked him, as I remembered the name.
He looked a bit sad.
,,Who told you? Elizabeth? Bethany?”
,,Erika, actually.” Edgar gritted his teeth.
,,That woman gets on my nerves. But yes, her name was Betty, short for Beatrice.”
Erika scoffed at his comment about her.
,,It’s a nice name” I told him, in hope to enlighten the mood.
,,Can we change the subject? This is turning into a sad love story that I don’t want to hear” Millie decided and told Midari to continue her story.
,,Ok so, after they left the rivalry started and for a short period of time they sent death threats.”
Millie started laughing, loudly.
,,Death threats? To us? We’re already dead, what are they going to do, kill us twice? Oh my God this is hilarious. Or wait, should I say, oh my LIBRARIAN? Or no, maybe oh my ELIZABETH works better?” her laughing intensified. Millie laughing was a truly rare sight.
,,My thoughts exactly” Midari grinned in the Midari-grinning-style ,,And the so called death threats annoyed Mily and she sent them some sort of poison. They drank it thinking it was juice! And the effects of the potion were most amusing: They came back to the school and started bowing at the sight of us. They literally started worshipping us!” Midari was laughing this time, as she recalled the events.
,,This is too funny” Millie was laughing with her ,,but in all seriousness now, we should go find them. If this guy who claims to be our brother is there, then we have to find him.”
,,I suggest we go together to check. By together I mean, like a family vacation” Midari clapped her hands ,,It’ll be fun. And plus, Mily is so scary, that they might even let us stay there for the night!”
,,You still haven’t told us where they live” I reminded her and Misaki nodded, agreeing.
,,I know where they live” Edgar told us. Midari stopped grinning and looked at him.
,,How do you know?”
,,Well, yeah. I created their boss.”
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
At around 12 am I entered my room followed by Edgar who collapsed on the couch. He sighed and closed his eyes, covering his face with his right hand.
,,You tired?” I asked, as I was not.
,,Yeah” he said bluntly.
,,Are you alright?” I took my shoes off (ohh ghost shoes) and laid on my bed, facing the ceiling.
,,Not really. I mean, from a physical point of view, I am, even though I’m dead.”
,,But from an emotional point of view? Is it because of what Midari said? If so, I apologize on her behalf…”
,,I just miss her. A lot. My wife I mean” he removed his hand from his face.
,,Understandable. What was she like?”
,,The absolute best. Pretty, kind and smart…very talented, very brave. They had no right to kill her!” his tone got angrier.
,,I’m sorry, I’ll stop asking about her.”
He turned to me.
,,No, it’s fine. She would have liked you. She was always one to love kids, Betty probably would have adopted you, haha…” I smiled as he said that. I didn’t remember as much as Millie did about our actual parents, but having Edgar and his wife as parents seemed much more pleasant.
I laid back on the bed and scoffed.
,,It’s not fair that Millie gets to have two companions.”
,,And why’s that?”
,,I got lonely without you here. How was it like to get kidnapped?”
,,I can’t complain. Bethany gave me souls to eat.”
,,I don’t get why everyone calls me disgusting because I eat them. Mily and Midari and Erika and the others also eat them” I complain.
,,Maybe it’s because you talk openly about it?” Edgar suggested.
,,Probably…in any case, tomorrow I’m going to visit my grave with Millie. I don’t understand why she wants to see it, but you’re welcome to join us!”
,,No thank you. Also when did you and Millie agree to go?” Edgar looked confused.
,,When you fell asleep” I told him, remembering that he had fallen asleep halfway through the discussion.
,,Oh..right..and when are you going to find your brother?”
I still wasn’t sure if this Elliott guy was really my sibling. I had my doubts, you know? But if he really was our brother, then that would mean that I was the youngest sibling. Even though Millie and I were twins, she was born first, theoretically making me younger than her.
,,Well, the plan would be that we’re going next week, because everyone already made plans for this week: Mily and Saki are going out to buy stuff, Midari is spending the week at Carter’s, Lord…wants to go play in the park…he said he wanted to feed the ghost ducks? Erika wants to play pranks on the teachers and and Kevin and Wendy are going on a trip to Salem” I then counted the people I mentioned to check if I’d listed everyone.
,,Oh alright. Also we should head to sleep.”
,,Says the guy who slept through the whole meeting.”
Before Edgar could respond, someone knocked on the door. I yelled for the person to enter and the door opened revealing Saki.
,,I believe I owe you an explanation” he said. I checked my phone.
,,At 12 am? Can’t we wait till tomorrow?”
Saki shook his head and I groaned. I sat up and waved Edgar goodbye, following Saki.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
We soon arrived in front of a room, which I recognized being Mily’s room. Stopping in front of the door I asked:
,,Am I really, really welcome here?” I gulped. Saki didn’t say anything and simply opened the door, welcoming me inside.
I had seen Mily’s room before, when I was on cleaning duty around a year ago and I can tell you, washing her carpet is living hell.
Mily stood on her small double bed, reading. Or at least, pretending to be, because the light wasn’t on, so there could have been no way she saw what she was reading.
Saki took a seat on a small couch. I decided it would be best to wait for them to invite me to also sit down.
Mily looked at me.
,,Well? If you want answers, sit down.”
,,Where?”
She pointed at the couch next to Saki and I assumed that after I sat down, she would join us, but instead she closed her book and didn’t change her sitting spot.
,,Well? What is so important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”
Mily lit a candle using magic and suddenly I could see how tired she actually looked. Fighting Elizabeth must have been the cause.
,,You’re probably wondering about your sister” she started ,,she’s asleep right now, so there’s no chance she would overhear this conversation.”
,,That seems logical” I responded. Mily frowned as always.
,,Your sister isn’t a ghost. I mean, technically she is, but at the same time she isn’t, which doesn’t actually make her a ghost but at the same time…”
,,Mily I don’t understand a thing. Say that again?” Mily looked nervous. When she was anxious about something, she’d talk gibberish.
,,Let me explain” Saki looked really creepy. I only then became aware of the actual color of his eyes. I mean, not the color of his eyes, what am I saying? His pupils were shaped like the letter X. I wondered if Saki liked math.
,,Today I lied to your sister…” he confessed.
,,I already know that. It’s obvious when you lie.”
Saki didn’t like my comment, but he didn’t say anything and instead continued.
,,What I’m trying to say is, Millie is a special kind of ghost.”
,,I thought I was the main character, why am I not the special one?”
Mily and Saki blinked at my comment but decided not to question me. I always knew I was main character material.
,,Anyway…uhm. So because of some unfortunate circumstances…your sister didn’t wake up after three days…which resulted in her species to change from ghost to reaper” Saki awkwardly explained.
,,And whose fault is that?” I looked at Mily who simply shrugged.
,,In any case, Millie is now what we like to call a Reaper. Or at least that’s what witch textbooks like to call her kind.”
,,There are witch textbooks?” I blinked.
,,There is a witch library, a witch school, a witch mall, a witch town, a witch shoe store…” Mily listed.
,,Wait” I stopped her ,,Why is the shoe store relevant?”
,,I never find shoes that fit me in ghost stores.”
,,Oh” I glanced at her closet and wondered how many shoe pairs she was hiding in there.
,,I believe Millie told you she’d explain the term of “reaper” to you?”
,,Yeah I forgot about that. I have the memory of a goldfish” I excused myself ,,Honestly I have a lot of questions…I just need to remember them.”
,,While you think I’ll explain what a reaper is” Mily wasn’t patient with me at all ,,A reaper is a type of ghost, so a dead person, that has a certain attachment to souls. Their primary task is to collect souls.”
,,Can’t everyone collect souls?”
,,Of course not. Only high ranked ghosts like us and reapers. Spectres like Erika can’t do that. But onto the explanation: when a reaper collects your soul, they have the ability to make it appear as if you died of natural causes. Plus the bonus ability that any ghost soul grants.”
,,But how’s that useful?” I was really confused.
,,You’re finally asking the real questions here, good job Luna Taylor.”
,,Hehe, thanks I guess?” I let out a nervous chuckle.
,,Reapers are supposed to work for the Underworld.”
,,What?” I couldn’t think of any other thing to say.
,,I wouldn’t call it that. Just call it straight Hell and let’s get this over with” Saki was clearly tired.
,,Hmm..” Mily thought for a moment ,,yeah you’re right.”
Whenever we say something, Mily disagrees. But whenever Saki says something, Mily agreed. How is that fair?
,,So basically reapers collect souls for Hell and Hell’s current ruler.”
,,You mean that guy from the Bible? What was his name again…”
,,No not that one, that one isn’t even real. The current ruler is a girl.”
,,Ohh strong women, I like that.”
,,Me too but Luna will you stop commenting for once and let me finish my story?” Mily raised her voice ,,You’ll ask your questions and comment your comments afterwards.”
,,Ok boss understood” I put my hands in the air in defense.
,,Good now let me finish. Because Reapers work for, basically Hell, the ability comes in handy. Stealing the souls and making the deaths look like accidents truly benefits the situation. In any case, Millie would be considered to be one of the lucky few who are actual Reapers. Most of the people who work for Hell’s ruler actually have to finish some sort of school to be able to be employed.”
Mily cleared her throat.
,,Continuing, the curse was broken because Millie isn’t a ghost or spectre. Satisfied?”
,,Then why did you lie to her and told her that she’s a ghost. Saki you really are the worst liar, but lucky for you, she was too distracted to notice” I turned to him.
,,Look Luna, I am truly sorry about having to lie to her. As Mily, I do not feel good when I lie.”
Sometimes I am actually shocked to see how similar they are.
,,We didn’t tell her because if we do, she’ll realize two things: number one, that she must leave and join Hell’s ruler. And number two, that her species doesn’t allow her to do magic.”
,,So it all comes back to the original lie, am I right Mily..? Shoot, I wanted to call you by your family name just like you called me a few minutes ago, to establish dominance, but I remembered you don’t have a family name.”
,,What? Yes I do have a family name and it’s a very pretty one if I may say so, but it does not concern you” she turned her head and did a dramatic hairflip.
,,Whatever you say boss. Anyway…are you going to keep lying to her?”
,,Of course! What, do you want her to get upset with me and this whole friendship to be over?”
,,I’ve always wondered how you two became friends in the first place, since, you know, you didn’t even want her to wake up. So tell me Mily, how did it happen?”
Mily had been trying to avoid this subject for the past few months, but now it was time for her to finally tell the truth.
,,That, I cannot tell you” she avoided the subject again.
,,Why not?”
,,I think it’s time for you to go to sleep” she got angry.
,,I think it’s not1” I argued.
,,It’s already past your bedtime!”
,,If I even had one!”
,,Stop arguing” Saki said and with a quick hand gesture, I was teleported on the main hallway.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Lord leaning against a wall, looking sad.
,,They kick you out whenever you ask too many questions too?” was the only thing he said, before making his way towards his own room.